


Once Upon A Dream

by Heliantha



Series: Sleep Paralysis AU [1]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment
Genre: ... or is it?, Demon Shane Madej, Gen, Nightmares, Sleep Paralysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23660056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heliantha/pseuds/Heliantha
Summary: Time in quarantine: three weeksRyan awakens from a nightmare to find himself unable to move, and with the distinct impression that he isn't alone.
Series: Sleep Paralysis AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720930
Comments: 19
Kudos: 124





	Once Upon A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Having been in quarantine for over a month now, I have finally dipped my toe into writing for the Unsolved fandom. Enjoy!

Ryan peered nervously around the darkened room. The spirit box hissed unnervingly as it flipped through stations. This was always the time of any shoot where the man really started questioning his career choices.  


“Is there anyone in here with me? If so, can you repeat my name back to me? Again, it’s Ryan.” His breath fogged somewhat in the air as he spoke. Why did he have to choose places without central heating? He had no one to blame but himself for that. He shifted from foot to foot to stay warm as he listened for an answer.  


“PSHKAZA-RAH RY-AN ZZT” The radio crackled and the ghost hunter’s heart rate spiked.  


“Did-did you just say my name?” He asked.  


“SHK RYAN KSS.” It responded.  


“Yes?”  


“ **RUN**.” And the spirit box shut itself off, along with the flashlight.  


Ryan shrieked and flung the spirit box away from himself. He clicked desperately at his light’s switch, to no avail. His eyes began adjusting to the dim moonlight filtering in through the room’s grimy window and he rushed to the door. Ryan yanked on the handle, intending to go running down the hall and back to the crew where they stood on the second-floor landing. The door didn’t budge.  


“Guys!” He yelled. “Stop fucking with me, let me out of here!” He heard no laughter at his plight or the shuffling of shoes on the other side of the door. He tried the door again, screaming in frustration when it stayed stuck.  


A harsh scraping sounded behind him and Ryan turned just in time to see a wooden chair come flying across the room and hit the wall inches away from him. He froze in terror, his breaths coming out in shallow pants.  


“Help.” He croaked, unable to get any volume from his voice. “Shane! TJ! SHANE!!! Help me, please, god!”

Ryan awoke with a gasp. He was drenched in sweat and couldn’t stop his labored breaths, but his eyes darted around to find the calming familiarity of his bedroom. This dream had been a new one, and was one he hoped he wouldn’t have a repeat of in the future. Ryan lifted his hand to wipe the sweat from his face. Or, at least, he tried to.  


His hand wouldn’t lift off of the bed. He didn’t feel anything physically holding him down. He tried his other arm, his head, anything, but his body wouldn’t react.  


_“Oh God,”_ Ryan thought to himself _“sleep paralysis.”_  


Just then, movement caught Ryan’s eye and he looked up to see a tall figure looming at the foot of his bed. His eyes slammed shut and Ryan chanted “Not real” in his head, trying to talk himself out of hyperventilating. Unable to stop himself, he peeked again and watched in horror as the figure put a hand on the mattress and started to climb up onto it. He couldn’t very well say that it wasn’t real when he felt its weight on his legs as it crawled slowly over him. Ryan’s internal chanting turned to a steady repetition of “No” and he distantly recognized that he was teetering on the edge of a panic attack.  


Ryan blinked reflexively and when he reopened his eyes, the creature was suddenly seated over his body, pressing him down into the mattress. A scream was lodged stubbornly in his throat, he felt like he would choke on it.  


“Oh _Ryan_ ,” the figure chided with uncomfortably familiar cadence and inflection. Its freezing hands came up to rest on Ryan’s shoulders, thumbs digging in just above his collarbones. “I’m only here to tuck you in.” Ryan felt like he was suffocating as the figure leaned in. Even at this proximity, he couldn’t make out any discernible features.  


“Sleep well.” The figure purred.  


Giving one final effort to defend himself, Ryan tried to bring his arms up to push the thing off of his chest. His right pinkie twitched.  


All at once, Ryan jolted up in bed with a sharp gasp of air. He felt around and switched on his bedside lamp, looking for where the creature could’ve gone, but found nothing. His hands jumped up to where the figure’s had been, feeling for any lingering chill that would tell him it had been real. He felt none.  


Now that he was finally able to breathe, Ryan took deep shuddering breaths. He wasn’t too proud to admit that they very quickly turned into sobs. He took his time, letting out the stress of the nightmare and sleep paralysis double whammy.  


Once he had calmed down, Ryan got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face. The cool water was refreshing and helped to ground him in the waking world. When he glanced back up into the mirror, he caught a shadow hovering just over his shoulder in the reflection. Ryan whirled to face it, but found nothing there. He laughed shakily, running a hand through his hair.  


“You’re losing it.” He muttered to his reflection. “Three weeks into quarantine and you’re officially losing it.” His eyes darted behind him again, almost against his will and he groaned in frustration.  


“It’s just sleep paralysis.” He told himself sternly. “If you heard this story on a case, even you would hesitate to accept it as solid evidence.” With that, he shut off the bathroom light and got back into bed.  


Once there, Ryan couldn’t bring himself to shut his lamp off again. He sat stiffly for an eternity or a few seconds, trying to will himself to lay down and go back to sleep. Finally, he groaned at himself and got out of bed, going to his work bag to get his vial of holy water. Only with his fingers curled securely around it, did he settle back in and shut off the light.  


For once, Ryan wasn’t tempted to reach out and bug Shane at a time like this. He was only a text away, but something about the figure had reminded Ryan of Shane in a way that he just couldn’t shake. That was the part that unsettled him the most, he decided; the thought that his friend, a source of comfort, had been warped by his unconscious mind. Well, his unconscious mind or a de- nope, he wasn’t going to think of the d word.  


“ _Demon_.” Ryan’s mind supplied helpfully. It was going to be a long night.  
\---  


Ryan awoke the next morning with a feeling of utter defeat. He lay there a second, eyes reluctantly open, and let the shrill ringing of his alarm wash over him. Then he sighed and pulled himself upright, shutting the alarm off. He had slept fitfully for the rest of the night, waking up a few times in a panic, his heart racing and his eyes seeking out the shadows around his room. But then, he would grip his holy water tighter, roll over and go back to sleep. He was trying to focus on the fact that he had slept at all.  


The bathroom mirror told him what he already knew: he looked exactly as haggard as he felt. He scrubbed his hand over his face and then shuffled into the kitchen, hoping a cup of coffee would make him feel more human. Realizing he had brought his holy water with him from the bedroom, Ryan set it on the kitchen table and went about his morning.  


Ten-thirty found Ryan dressed (in a hoodie and sweats that weren’t _too_ dirty) and seated at his kitchen table, joining a video call with Steven and Shane. Both looked enviably well-rested, Shane’s cheerful greeting pushing him solidly into the realm of “uncomfortably chipper”.  


The man in question squinted at his screen briefly before his gentle smile grew smug and almost condescending. Having been subjected to that look countless times on location, Ryan immediately looked at his own video frame, quickly finding what Shane had been smirking at. He nudged the holy water out of frame. Shane just grinned and shook his head, before speaking.  


“So, did you guys-“ Shane began, but the connection suddenly glitched and the rest of his sentence was lost.  


“What was that, big guy? You went out there for a second.” Ryan laughed.  


Shane grinned again, but there was something behind it. “I said,” he restarted. “Did you guys sleep well?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please feel free to drop a comment if you have questions or thoughts. <3
> 
> As a note: I based Ryan's sleep paralysis incident very loosely on my own bout of sleep paralysis, though mine was way less intense/scarring and could even be described as funny. I did my best to stay true to what people can and cannot do during sleep paralysis, but frankly, getting into the nitty gritty of the research was freaking me out too much, so I just decided to wing it. If you have any corrections, I would LOVE to hear them.
> 
> As another note: I have two other (much shorter) snippets in this story, which I have been referring to as "behind the scenes." They are from another character's point of view, and I'd say they run more funny than spooky. I have gone back and forth on whether or not I'll post them. If there's any interest in them, I'll post them and might even polish them up so they don't just look like stage directions and random dialogue.


End file.
